Robert Ritch, MD

Dr Ritch is the author of 500+ peer reviewed publications and 9 textbooks and has presented 700 lectures worldwide, including 40 named lectures. His areas of interest include the underlying etiologies and mechanisms of glaucoma and innovation in its medical, laser, and surgical treatment.

Dr Ritch has received countless honors including the Heed Ophthalmic Foundation Ophthalmologist of the Year award (1996); the Gold Medal of Merit and Honor from the Greek Glaucoma Society, and the Ophthalmology Times Achievement in Ophthalmology Award (1998); the Louis Rudin Award for research in ophthalmology; the American Academy of Ophthalmology Lifetime Achievement Honor Award; the Leadership in Education in Ophthalmology (LEO) Award; the Glaucoma Foundation Award for Innovation and Excellence in Glaucoma; the ARVO Distinguished Service Award, ARVO Gold Fellowship; the World Glaucoma Association Recognition Award; elected to Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis in 2012.

He was appointed to the Advisory Committee to the Board of Directors of the International Council of Ophthalmology and was elected Chairman of the Committee in 2009 and appointed to the Board of Directors of the International Council. He has numerous society affiliations including: Elected member of the Board of Trustees of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology and served as Vice-President in 2006-2007; Past President of the Ophthalmic Laser Surgical Society, the New York Glaucoma Society, the Section on Ophthalmology of the New York Academy of Medicine, and the New York Society for Clinical Ophthalmology; Steering Committee of the World Glaucoma Association, and the Board of Directors of the Pan-American Association of Ophthalmology.